Tampa Bay Rays ace Tyler Glasnow left Monday night’s contest against the Chicago White Sox after four innings and 53 pitches with right elbow inflammation. After receiving an MRI Tuesday morning, which revealed a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, as well as a flexor strain, the right-hander was placed on the 10-day IL with a right elbow sprain.
Glasnow struck out Yasmani Grandal and Adam Eaton before retiring Andrew Vaughn on a curveball in a clean fourth inning. However, as the Rays came to the plate in the top of the fifth, right-hander Ryan Thompson began warming up and subsequently replaced Glasnow.
While the right-hander didn’t appear to be in pain, television cameras caught Glasnow shaking and stretching his right forearm (see the tweet above). It came to pass that he told head trainer Joe Benge and pitching coach Kyle Snyder that something didn’t feel right in his elbow.
Glasnow spoke about the injury following the game, noting that he felt a “pull” when he threw his fastball.
It felt not right and I wanted to come out to be cautious. Something in my body told me to take it easy. Too early to tell. I’ll get an MRI tomorrow. …Felt like a pull every time I threw. Wasn’t this crazy pain but better for me to not go back out.
— Tyler Glasnow
It’s a tough development for the right-hander given that UCL tears and flexor strains are often precursors to Tommy John surgery. The current hope is that Glasnow can rehab the injury without surgery. The team hasn’t released a formal timeline for his return which will be determined after further medical evaluation. Suffice to say though, it would appear that he is in for a significant absence even in a best-case situation.
Looking at things from the team’s perspective, they do have the depth to fill the hole left in his absence. While it’s not ideal, it’s certainly not a death sentence for the season. Glasnow’s rotation spot does not come up again until Saturday. While they haven’t said how they’ll fill his spot in the rotation, the Rays could recall someone from Durham, such as right-hander Luis Patiño, or move Michael Wacha back into a starting/bulk role. We will just have to see how things progress from this point forward.